"Section 7-13-25.
(A) Notwithstanding the provisions of
this chapter or Chapter 5 of this title, the authority charged
by law with conducting an election shall establish a procedure
by which a qualified elector may cast his ballot, without
excuse, during an early voting period for all elections. The
qualified elector may cast a ballot during an early voting
period pursuant to this section.
(B) An early voting
center must be established and maintained to ensure that voters
may cast only one ballot.
(C) A qualified elector
may cast his ballot at an early voting center in the county in
which he resides.
(D) Each county board
of registration and elections must establish one early voting
center. The county board of registration and elections will
determine the location of the early voting center that must be
located in a public building within the county seat or another
location that is as centrally located for the entire county as
possible. Each early voting center must be supervised by
election commission employees.
(E) The early voting
period begins nine days before an election and ends the day
prior to the election, exclusive of Sundays.
(F) The county board of
registration and elections shall determine the hours of
operation for the early voting center; however, the early voting
center must be open for two Saturdays within the early voting
period for statewide primaries and general elections, and the
center must be open a minimum of five hours between the hours of
9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. each day it is open for voting. The
early voting center must close at 5:00 p.m. on the final day of
early voting, the Monday immediately preceding election day.
(G) A sign must be
posted prominently in the early voting center and shall have
printed on it:
'VOTING MORE THAN ONCE IS A MISDEMEANOR AND, UPON CONVICTION, A
PERSON MUST BE FINED IN THE DISCRETION OF THE COURT OR
IMPRISONED NOT MORE THAN THREE YEARS'."

SECTION 2. Article 1,
Chapter 13, Title 7 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 7-13-200.
(A) An entity authorized by law to
conduct an election shall conduct this event, at which qualified
electors are allowed to cast a ballot, on one of four dates as
provided in subsection (B).
(B) The dates on which
an election event may be held are:
(1)
the third Tuesday in March;
(2)
the third Tuesday in June;
(3)
the third Tuesday in September; or
(4)
the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
(C) Notwithstanding
another provision of law, if an entity is required to conduct an
election event, it must be conducted on one of the four dates
established in subsection (B) after and nearest to the date
established by another provision of law.
(D) A person having
been elected and currently serving a term in office that has an
election date other than one of those dates listed in subsection
(B) must have his term of office extended to allow for an
election to occur nearest the date provided by subsection
(B).
(E) The provisions of
this section do not apply to amendments proposed to the
Constitution of this State or the United States
Constitution."

SECTION 3. Section
7-3-20(C) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 265 of 2012,
is further amended by adding:

"(14) enter into
the master file a separate designation each for voters casting
absentee ballots and early ballots in a general election."

SECTION 4. Section
7-11-10 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 7-11-10.
(A) Nominations for candidates
for the offices to be voted on in a general or special election
may be by political party primary, by political party
convention, or by petition;.
provided, noA person who was defeated
as a candidate for nomination to an office in a party primary or
party convention shallmay not have his
name placed on the ballot for the ensuing general or special
election, except that this proviso shalldoes not prevent a defeated candidate from later becoming
his party's nominee for that office in that election if the
candidate first selected as the party's nominee dies, resigns,
is disqualified, or otherwise ceases to become the party's
nominee for suchthe office before the
election is held.(B)A
candidate may not file more than one statement of intention of
candidacy for a single election."

SECTION 5. Section
7-13-320(D) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"(D) The names of
candidates offering for any otheranother office shallmust be
placed in the proper place on the appropriate ballot, stating
whether it is a state, congressional, legislative,
county, or other office. A candidate's name may not
appear on the ballot more than once for any single office for
the same election."

SECTION 6. Section
7-13-330 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 236 of 2000,
is further amended to read:

"Section 7-13-330.
(A)The State Election
Committee shall determine the arrangement of general
election ballots containing the names of candidates for
office. The ballot must conform as nearly as
possible toinclude the following
plan, with a column or columns added in case of
nomination by petition and a blank column added for write-in
votes, and must contain the specified instructions
therethat are set forth there
and no other:
GENERAL ELECTION
OFFICIAL BALLOT
No. ______ ________
COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA
November ___,
_____
________________
Initials of Issuing
Officer
OFFICIAL BALLOT
GENERAL ELECTION
__________ __________
County, South Carolina
November ___,
_____
Precinct
__________
INSTRUCTIONS--To vote a straight party
ticket, make a cross (X) in the circle (O) under the name of
your party. Nothing further need or should be done. To vote a
mixed ticket, or in other words for candidates of different
parties or petition candidates, omit making a cross (X) mark in
the party circle at the top and make a cross (X) in the voting
square [ ] opposite the name of each candidate on the ballot for
whom you wish to vote. If you wish to vote for a candidate not
on anya ticket, write or place the name
of suchthat candidate on your ticket
opposite the name of the office. Before leaving the booth, fold
the ballot so that the initials of the manager
may be seen on the outside of the ballot. (B)The
ballot must include:(1)the name of each candidate, listed only
once;(2)the office for which the candidate is nominated;
and(3)a listing of the party or parties which have
nominated the candidate.(C)Each
ballot must offer a voter the opportunity to select individual
candidates for whom to cast their vote or the opportunity to
select a political party thereby casting a vote for each
candidate nominated by the political party.Nomination
by Name
of PartyName of PartyPetitionNames of Office
0 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------STATE Governor
Governor
Governor
Governor [ ] Name of
[ ] Name of
[ ] Name of
Candidate
Candidate
Candidate ------------------------------------------------------------------Lieutenant
Lieut. Governor Lieut. Governor
Lieut. Governor
Governor [ ] Name of
[ ] Name of
[ ] Name of
Candidate
Candidate
Candidate
------------------------------------------------------------------Secretary of
Sec. of State
Sec. of State
Sec. of State
State [ ] Name of
[ ] Name of
[ ] Name of
Candidate
Candidate
Candidate
------------------------------------------------------------------
CONGRES- U.S. Senator
U.S. Senator
U.S. Senator
SIONAL [ ] Name of
[ ] Name of
[ ] Name of
Senator Candidate
Candidate
Candidate
------------------------------------------------------------------
RepresentativeU.S. Repre-
U.S. Repre-
U.S. Repre-
in Congress sentative
sentative
sentative
[ ] Name of
[ ] Name of
[ ] Name of
District Candidate
Candidate
Candidate"

SECTION 7.
Section 7-15-320 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act
43 of 2011, is further amended to read:

"Section 7-15-320.
(A)A
qualified elector in any of the following categories must be
permitted to vote by absentee ballot in all elections when he is
absent from his county of residence on election day during the
hours the polls are open, to an extent that it prevents him from
voting in person: (1)students,
their spouses, and dependents residing with them; (2)members
of the Armed Forces and Merchant Marines of the United States,
their spouses, and dependents residing with them; (3)persons
serving with the American Red Cross or with the United Service
Organizations (USO) who are attached to and serving with the
Armed Forces of the United States, their spouses, and dependents
residing with them; (4)governmental employees, their spouses, and
dependents residing with them; (5)persons
on vacation (who by virtue of vacation plans will be absent from
their county of residence on election day); or (6)overseas
citizens. (B)A qualified elector in any of the following
categories must be permitted to vote by absentee ballot in all
elections, whether or not he is absent from his county of
residence on election day: (1)physically disabled persons; (2)persons
whose employment obligations require that they be at their place
of employment during the hours that the polls are open and
present written certification of that obligation to the county
registration board; (3)certified
poll watchers, poll managers, county voter registration board
members and staff, county and state election commission members
and staff working on election day; (4)persons
attending sick or physically disabled persons; (5)persons
admitted to hospitals as emergency patients on the day of an
election or within a four-day period before the election; (6)persons
with a death or funeral in the family within a three-day period
before the election; (7)persons
who will be serving as jurors in a state or federal court on
election day; (8)persons
sixty-five years of age or older; or (9)persons
confined to a jail or pretrial facility pending disposition of
arrest or trial.(A)A
qualified elector may vote during the early voting period
pursuant to Section 7-13-25.(B)A
qualified elector in any of the following categories must be
permitted to vote by absentee ballot in all elections:(1)students, their spouses, and dependents residing
with them;(2)members of the Armed Forces and Merchant Marines
of the United States, their spouses, and dependents residing
with them;(3)persons serving with the American Red Cross or
with the United Service Organization (USO) who are attached to
and serving with the Armed Forces of the United States, their
spouses, and dependents residing with them;(4)physically disabled persons who are, pursuant to
certification by a physician, unable to vote in person because
of their physical disability at either a polling place or early
voting center; (5)overseas citizens;(6)persons sixty-five years of age or older;(7)persons confined to a jail or pretrial facility
pending disposition of arrest or trial;
(8)
certified poll watchers, poll managers, county voter
registration board members and staff, county and state election
commission members and staff working on election day;(9)persons admitted to hospitals as emergency
patients on the day of an election or within a four-day period
before the election; or(10)persons who will be serving as jurors in a state
or federal court on election day."

SECTION 8. Section
7-15-470 of the 1976 Code is repealed.

SECTION 9. This act
takes effect upon approval by the Governor, subject to obtaining
preclearance from either the United States Department of Justice
or the United States Court of Appeals of the District of
Columbia, pursuant to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. However,
if any portion of the act fails to gain preclearance, the other
portions of the act shall not take effect. /